“On Friday, President Obama told Americans to ‘shake off all the naysaying and the anxiety and the hand-wringing.’ He is on the road, following up on the big jobs speech he gave before Congress. It got a pretty good reaction, which would probably have been even more positive if the television broadcasts had not been interspersed with reports that Homeland Security was searching for a trio of terrorist truckers.”

“And did you notice that the University of Cambridge has reported that high levels of chocolate consumption might help reduce the risk of heart disease? That the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named moderate alcohol consumption as one of “four healthy lifestyle behaviors” that helps increase longevity? This has to be confidence-building information. If you wait around long enough, scientists will probably discover that virtually everything is much better for you than you originally believed. Except mammograms.”